India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav reserved huge praise for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ayush Mhatre, following his stunning knock against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Mhatre smashed a brilliant 94 off just 48 while chasing 214 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, his knock went in vain as RCB staged a late comeback to win the game by two runs in the end. However, Mhatre managed to impress everyone, including his teammate in domestic cricket, Suryakumar, who hailed the teenager for his intent and bravery.
“Innings filled with intent, bravery and fire! The future is here. Remember the name,” Suryakumar captioned a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Chasing 214, CSK scored 211 for 5 in their 20 overs.
Mhatre scored a 48-ball 94 with five sixes and nine fours while adding 114 runs with Jadeja (77 not out off 45 balls, 8x4s, 2x6s) for the second wicket.
For RCB, Lungi Ngidi returned with figures of 3/30.
Earlier, half-centuries from Jacob Bethell (55), Virat Kohli (62) and Romario Shepherd (53 not out) took RCB to 213 for five.
While Bethell and Kohli put on 97 runs for the opening wicket to set a platform, Shepherd blasted four fours and six sixes to make 53 not out off only 14 balls, recording the fastest fifty of the season and joint second-fastest overall.
For CSK, Matheesha Pathirana found his rhythm and lengths to return 3-0-36-3.
With the win, RCB moved to the top of the IPL table with 16 points from 11 matches.
It was the first instance of RCB beating CSK both home and away in the same season. The last time RCB won two matches against CSK in a season was back in 2009, but one of those victory came during a tense semi-final. That season was played in South Africa.
(With PTI Inputs)
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